Alexis Kimbrough has a passion for helping others improve their overall wellness. Since the summer of 2022, she’s run a mobile herbal tea shop known as Herban Soul Café, often offering her blends at pop-up markets hosted by Urban Impact in Birmingham’s Historic Black Business District on 4th Avenue. Now, she’s preparing to open her first brick-and-mortar shop, thanks to a grant she won from Magic City Match, which matches Black entrepreneurs with Birmingham spaces where they can build their businesses. We’re excited to introduce our newest FACE of Birmingham, Alexis Kimbrough of Herban Soul Café.
How did you get into herbal tea?
During the pandemic, I decided to get intentional about my health and wellness journey. I have PCOS. I have hypothyroidism. And I was taking different medications, but I started looking for alternatives — for something I could do to aid my journey. Then, I lost my full-time job. I continued to personal train, but I picked up an additional job just to supplement my income working in a health food store. That put me in the right position to start really understanding alternative medicine, herbs, and supplements. I also met different herbalists. One herbalist helped me start to formulate my own blends.
One day, I was on my way home and saw a building for lease or sale for a café, coffee shop, or bar. Birmingham doesn’t have an herbal tea café. To get a true tea — other than boba tea — you have to go to a coffee shop. So, I got the idea to change that.
What do you wish more people understood about herbal tea?
You can’t just go off what you see on TikTok and Instagram. It’s a matter of understanding how to blend the herbs. It sounds easy to just get these herbs from your local health food store or order them off Amazon. But there is an actual science to the effectiveness of herbs and [obtaining] a nice flavor profile. They have to be formulated in a certain way.
What are some of your most popular blends?
Immune-I-Tea. It’s a naturally sweet immunity booster with elderberry, hibiscus, and lemongrass. You can drink it year-round, and it has a nice fruity flavor. Another one is 5 Heat Beat. It has a spice flavor. It has elderberry and hibiscus, and it also has ginger, turmeric, and cinnamon. It’s good for circulation, inflammation, and heart health. And for someone who may be diabetic, it has cinnamon that can help to regulate blood sugar. But you could drink the tea just for pleasure and enjoy flavors like strawberry lemonade or piña colada.
What do you like to do when you’re not working?
I’m an extremist. It’s either very chill or very “let’s go risk our lives.” I’ve been skydiving before. A couple of years ago, I did a discovery flight where you get to co-pilot, and they talk you through how to pilot the plane. Then, they let go and give you full control. But I also like a girls’ night — just hanging out with my friends, having a couple of drinks, or a game night. Sometimes, I just sit in the house for a week to myself. Then I’ll decide — let’s go bungee jump or get in a hot air balloon!
What do you like most about Birmingham?
Community. I’m from Selma — a small town where everybody knows everybody. I went to school at West Alabama in Livingston, another small town where everybody knows everybody. Even though Birmingham is a larger city than Selma or Livingston, it’s easy to build community. I don’t have family here in Birmingham, but from the relationships I’ve built, I have friends who are like family.
What are some of your favorite places in Birmingham?
My favorite restaurant is Pizza Grace. I went one day for dinner with one of my friends and then asked to speak to the manager because we had such a good meal and experience. Now, I have a personal relationship with the owners, and I go almost every week.
My favorite park is Railroad Park. I live downtown, so I love it.
One of my favorite trails is the Lakeshore Trail by Samford University. There are enough trees that you feel like you’re running a trail, but you’re right off the street.
As for coffee shops, whenever I want tea (other than Herban Soul blends), I go to Filter. If I want to co-work, I go to Frothy Monkey. It’s always upbeat. It’s always busy. I like the background noise, and I can get a meal while I’m there.
What book are you reading right now?
Sell Yourself without Selling Your Soul: A Woman’s Guide to Promoting Herself, Her Business, Her Product or Her Cause with Integrity & Spirit by Susan Harrow.
What’s on your bedside table?
Some water, a prayer book, and my planner.
What’s the best advice you’ve been given?
Be authentic. Regardless of whether it’s business or personal, people gravitate towards authenticity. You don’t have to remember what you said or did because you’re showing up as yourself. How I talk and act in business is how I talk and act in my personal life. It’s how I talk and act when I’m with my church members. It’s how I talk and act when I’m with my family. I get to be myself, and that’s what people enjoy. That opens so many doors because it shows you’re personable.
Other than faith, family, and friends, name three things you can’t live without.
A good playlist, my eyeglasses, and lip gloss.
All photography courtesy of Lok Enterprise.
As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.
**********
To stay in the know on the best of Birmingham, subscribe to our daily emails!
